


The 43rd Flavor

by KitschyKit



Category: Original Work
Genre: Childhood Friends, F/M, First Crush, Food Fight, Ice Cream, Summer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-06-02 07:08:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19436446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KitschyKit/pseuds/KitschyKit
Summary: Childhood nostalgia mixed with the prompt, “Worlds most epic ice cream fight.” For a summer themed fic exchange





	The 43rd Flavor

**Author's Note:**

> For EB/Smol! It’s not quite that epic but I hope your like it anyway. <3

Joan didn't particularly like the idea of getting a summer job, but knew that she needed one, and that she definitely wasn’t going back to summer camp after last years disastrous watermelon incident, so a summer job at the local ice cream shop it was.

And Aiden was going to be there, the tight curls off his hair falling into his face as he laughed, grinning wide because “It won’t be as fun without you Joanie,” and that particular phrase had gotten them both mixed up in trouble since they were toddlers.

His sister was the manager, which meant that they got to pull some strings to get them both hired, and really Natalie should know better than to have them both there at the same time, but the college student muttered something about keeping an eye on them and that was that.

Joan gets sick of ice cream within the first week.

By the third week, Aiden, determined to try a cone of all 42 flavors, falls short by 12 with reasons like, “Maple and maple pecan are pretty much the same,” but Joan knows that he just really didn’t want to admit that he was sick of ice cream too.

Still, they saw each other all the time now, just like at school, and it was work but it was _fun_ , because Natalie played loud music when they closed, and on hot days Aiden would text her to wear a bathing suit to work, and they would run off during the slow hours to jump in the creek behind the store, and on clear nights, if they had the energy, they would take the long way home, biking through the fields to watch the fireflies.

They saw their other friends too, everyone who was scattered around town as counselors or lifeguards or cashiers, and they would pile into the car of that one long-suffering friend that actually owned a car, and use their hard earned cash at the fairgrounds or beach or arcade, and if Aiden reached out for her hand to drag her somewhere well, they didn’t talk about it.

It’s not like Joan didn’t _want_ to talk about it, but, it was impossibly huge to bring up, the weight of it, pinning the words to the back of her throat. They were 16 and they had never really talked about crushes, or dating, or anything like that because why would they, but suddenly it was important, it was something Joanie needed to know, and _oh no_.

The end of July they get a heatwave. It’s 110 degrees on a friday night, the humidity a physical blanket on their skin, the line of people taking up the parking lot, and the giant freezer in the shop decides to break down and die.

So they panic a little, holding up the line as Natalie steps into the backroom to call the owner, and after what feels like the longest few minutes of their lives, Natalie sweeps back in, all unshakable confidence and plastered on award winning smile, and they try to follow her lead as they close down and turn people away.

The sun had long since gone down, but it didn’t mean much at that point-- Natalie cracked open the freezer and pulled out a tub, wet condensation signalling to them that yeah the ice cream was pretty much fucked.

They should’ve started cleaning, but what Aiden did instead was try to save the night, in his own off-brand way.

He stared at the melted chocolate chip, and then at his older sister, and then grinned at Joan, and in one smooth impulsive motion, he dipped his hand in the soupy ice cream and flicked his fingers at his sister.

There was a beat of silence while Natalie’s face went through a long and complicated journey of emotions and finally settled on completely and terrifyingly blank. “You know we’d have to clean it all up later right?”

“Yeah,” Aiden drawled, a clear challenge. “Are you gonna stop me?”

He flicked it again, green splattering up her tank top, grinning in the way only a cheeky younger sibling can. Joan took a step back, already calculating if she can get the tub of strawberry without being noticed.

“If you get it in my hair,” Natalie said as she blindly reached down into the freezer and grabbed a tub of oreo. “They will never find your body.”

Thankfully, the siblings were so focused on each other that neither noticed the blog of strawberry sail through the air until it hit Aiden in the chest, splattering up to his chin.

“Oops,” Joan said, the tub tucked under her arm.

Aiden’s look of surprise melted into a grin that radiated mischief, and in the next second all hell broke loose, shrieks bouncing off the walls as they chased each other around the freezer, painting their arms and shirts in sticky sweet ice cream. Her hands were covered in it, the edges of her ponytail dragging through the oreo on her shoulder, and her chest hurt from laughing so hard.

It finally ended when Aiden slipped in a puddle of the stuff and caught himself on the counter, managing not to fall but not at all looking graceful about it.

Natalie covered her mouth to hide her grin, and finally set down her ice cream. Joan closed the distance between her and Aiden as if pulled by an invisible string, the joy unbridled in her chest and she poked at his cheek with sticky fingers. “You have strawberry all over your face.”

“And whose fault is that?” He asked, amused.

“Yours,” Natalie and Joan said at the same time, and Natalie rolled her eyes at the mock-hurt look on his face.

“I’m gonna clean up and find the mop and some rags,” Natalie said as she disappeared into the back room, and Joan was suddenly aware that yeah she was very close to Aiden, and did he always look at her like that?

“I’ve always wanted to get into a food fight,” Joan decided to say, stamping down the crush she refused to acknowledge was a crush. “Thanks for that.”

Aiden went to rub the back of his neck, a nervous gesture that he must’ve regretted as he smeared mint chocolate over his neck. Was he blushing? Or was it the heat? “My pleasure,” he said, deflecting, and then, after a pause, he was looking at her again, suddenly subdued. “I… thanks for taking the job with me. It’s a lot more fun with you around.”

“My pleasure,” she parroted back, and it might have been the adrenaline, or the sugar high, or how soft and dark his brown eyes looked in the hazy fluorescent lights but the words that she’d had pinned in the back of her throat came loose. They had always barrelled forward into the unknown together, and she didn’t see how this had to be any different.

“I like being around,” she said, and when did her voice get so high? He reached for her hand, carefully, not like the other times, but with intent, and they were still covered in ice cream but he had never looked so cute than in this moment. “I think I like you.”

His hand in hers tightened, mouth clicking open and shut and he was definitely blushing wasn’t he, but it was suspended in this moment, in this drawn out horrible moment where Joan’s unearned confidence was called into doubt, the sting of rejection growing stronger than the hope in her chest.

But he didn’t let go of her hand. “I think I like you too,” he said, and it was small, so much gentler than she was used to from him.

“Do you want to go to the movies with me? On Monday?” It was one of their days off, and Aiden’s grin was back on his face, suddenly electric and blinding and nothing changed, nothing changed because they already knew who would buy the tickets and who would buy the snacks and now it was _different_ but it was _better_.

And if they took the long way home that night and shared a kiss under the stars well… only the fireflies had to know.


End file.
